The Average Heroin Addict Is A White, Suburban Teen. NCADA Super Bowl Ads Point Out That Fact.

(St. Louis Public Radio, Feb. 4) During the Superbowl, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse-St. Louis ran some stark ads: that today's heroin users are white, suburban, middle-class kids. Its purpose was to change the perception that heroin and drug abuse is a problem only in urban, poor, black neighborhoods. Today, "heroin is primarily a drug being used in suburbs and rural areas more than urban areas," said Howard Weissman, executive director of NCADA. Though the treatment between blacks and whites were unjust, the silver lining is that heroin addiction across all classes is now being regarded more as a disease than as a crime. READ MORE.